INTAR Supports New SAMHSA Funded Hospital Alternative In California

SAMHSA has agreed to a Transformation Grant for a Peer Run Crisis Respite in Santa Cruz County. Yana Jacobs reports:

“I want to say I couldn’t have written this grant without the inspiration and networking from the Alternative Consumer community, primarily INTAR, THANK YOU! You folks showed me the way, were my inspiration to have hope and keep pushing for changes. You re-awakened my belief in human caring, community, passion, healing with natural supports I had the honor and pleasure to be invited into your community and here is a concrete result from those discussions!”

A special THANKS to Seana O’Callahan, who was my primary partner in writing this grant, I couldn’t have done it without you, between New York and California we lived on the inter-net, 24 hours a day (so it seemed) together networking with the larger group! It was so powerful to have so much help and enthusiasm across the country. Shery Mead, Laysha Ostrow, John Bola, Neal Adams, Peter and Nazlim who found me from the Soteria network and then brought me into the fold, couldn’t have happened without you! Beth Stoneking a constant support and major contributor to the grant, Sylvia Caras my friend and primary local support that initiated this application in our community. So many more people were sending me articles, emailing their enthusiasm and “cheering” us on!
It’s all of YOU and the experience of your love, support, belief and commitment that makes new programs and change possible!

Santa Cruz County to open new residential psychiatric center

SANTA CRUZ — People who may be suffering a mental health problem will soon have another option for treatment — a 24-hour crisis center to help nip small psychiatric issues before they get out of hand.

The new county-run residential facility, scheduled to open before the end of the year, is being funded by a $3.6 million federal grant and will come with the distinction of being staffed not by hospital employees, but by people who have had and have overcome mental health issues themselves.

“The whole idea is to catch the problem early and ratchet it down before people have to go to the hospital,” said Yana Jacobs, county director of adult mental outpatient services, who has been planning the new center. “The story here is that people with mental illness are taking charge and helping one another.”

This week’s news of five years worth of funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has county health officials scurrying to find a site and staffing for the new center. Officials have not figured out where they want to be located, only that they’d like a centralized site near a bus line.